Splunk CEO Explains Platform Strategy

Splunk has introduced a new version of its IT search engine, one that exposes APIs and common services so users, developers, and partners can tie in their own applications. "We're opening up the basic platform," says CEO Michael Baum.Splunk's server-based software indexes data generated by IT infrastructures -- logs, configuration, alerts, and other metrics -- so that data can be searched for IT administration and management. Increasingly, the product is being used for IT security and compliance, too.

Splunk just released the latest version of its IT search engine, Splunk 3.2. With this release, Splunk becomes available for the first time on Windows. It already runs on AIX, FreeBSD, Linux, Mac OSX, and Solaris.

The company also introduced the first app to be build on its search engine, Splunk for PCI Compliance, which comes with prepackaged searches and reports for things like file integrity monitoring, daily log review, and audit trails.

A new REST API and SDK for .Net and Python developers extends Splunk's search engine to apps from users and partners. The goal is to position Splunk as a platform for others to build upon.

I talked to CEO Michael Baum about the strategy. You can see the interview here.